To reduce traffic congestion and pollution from automobile exhaust, transit authorities are continually searching for ways to enhance transit system ridership. One way to enhance such ridership is to encourage bicycle riders to use public transportation for long-haul portions of their trips and to rely on their bicycles for short trips at either end of their transit system travel. Encouraging such bicycle use will cause greater numbers of transit system users to leave their cars behind and the result will be reduced pollution and traffic congestion. Passengers may be more inclined to use mass transit if they know that they will still be able to travel moderate distances relatively easily at either end of their transit ride, without having to further wait for connecting vehicles. Transit travel is further enhanced by having a bicycle available when further travel is to areas near transit lines but not directly served thereby.
However, transporting a bicycle on the transit vehicle is a problem. At periods of low ridership, it is relatively straightforward to bring a bicycle onto a bus or train, since there is ample room to accommodate both the rider and the bicycle. However, during peak hours, busses or trains are typically filled to capacity and therefore, bringing a bicycle on board is difficult if not impossible. A bicycle brought on board during peak hours can impede the entry and exit of other passengers. Further, once the bicycle is on board, if large numbers of passengers board later, it can be difficult for the bicycle rider to exit at a desired stop without injuring other passengers.
To alleviate such problems, some transit systems have banned bike riders during peak hours. However, such a ban defeats the goal of increasing ridership and encouraging bicyclists to use the system. Therefore, transit systems have employed bicycle racks in conjunction with busses or trains wherein the bicycle racks are attached externally to the vehicle. With some externally mounted bike racks, the bus driver or train operator must load the bike for the rider. In cases where the bus operator loads the bike, transit system efficiency is reduced since time is required for the transit operator to leave his operating position to assist with loading the bicycle onto the bike rack after having previously secured the vehicle to prevent undesired movement. Some systems employ racks where the riders must load the rack themselves without assistance from the driver. Such racks have heretofore been difficult to load, requiring a rider to set the bicycle aside and use both hands to bring the rack into a loading position. Only then could the rider pick up the bicycle and place it in the rack. When more than one bike was loaded onto the rack, it became difficult to add additional bikes as other bicycle riders board the transit system. Further, with more than one bike on a rack, it is difficult to remove bikes held at the rear of the rack, typically requiring the removal of all the bikes in front of the rear bike. Then, the other bikes, whose owners are not leaving the transit system at that particular stop point, would have to be reloaded onto the rack. Often, bicycle riders are required to sit near the front of the bus in order to be able to disembark and move their bicycles out of the way of bicycles at the back of the rack. Such extra unloading and loading undesirably lengthens the time required at that particular transit stop, which can lead to passenger frustration and difficulty in maintaining scheduling of subsequent stops.
Heretofore, bicycle racks for mounting to transit vehicles have employed relatively elongated members which extended a substantial distance from the transit vehicle. However these elongate members are typically small in cross section relative to their length, and might result in unintended collision between the elongate members of the rack and other objects when no bicycles are mounted thereon, since the transit vehicle operator or persons driving near the transit vehicle might not see the elongate member. Such unintentional collisions could damage the rack, the bus, the bicycles or the object collided with. If the rack was made to fold up when not in use, it has heretofore been necessary to have the transit operator lower the rack prior to loading, or if the rack is lowered by the riders, the operation required excessive expenditure of time.
Bicycle racks according to the prior art have secured the bicycles to the racks by use of straps or clamps or other means that caused chipping of the paint on the bicycles, leading to rider dissatisfaction.
Automated washing of vehicles with prior art racks mounted thereon can become a problem. Frequently the racks become entangled with the washing apparatus, requiring the halting of the washing process and operator intervention to untangle the rack. It therefore becomes necessary to remove the rack from the vehicle prior to washing.